It’s misery. Jacob Misiorowski’s arsenal that is.
The 100-plus mile per hour heaters are tough to hit, no doubt. But it’s about more than the fastball with this kid.
He can start his upper 90s slider in the strike zone and make hitters think it’s the fastball and leave them waving at something they don’t have a chance to touch when it’s moving at its best.
The 23-year-old righthander can add in a high 80s curveball as well as a changeup. These two pitches aren’t used as much but the important part is that when he’s mixing them in, he’s able to make them effective.
He showed that in his most recent start against the Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday in Milwaukee. Misiorowski pitched six innings and limited one of the best offenses in the league to just one run on four hits and one walk. He struck out 12 batters.
He picked up 21 swing-and-misses throughout the game. He was efficient in his 12-strikeout effort as well only needing 91 pitches to get through six innings. That’s an average of just over 15 pitches per inning. That’s a recipe to go deep in games if you’re limiting damage.
Seventy-five pitches through five innings will typically earn you a sixth and maybe a seventh inning with big league managers depending on how the game is going.
Now, Misiorowski has already coined the nickname of “The Miz” and it has stuck at the big league stage being featured in national headlines. But I want to offer a nickname for what he brings to the opposition — misery.
His four-pitch arsenal is misery for those in the batter’s box going against him. The proof is in the 33 strikeouts he’s recorded through 25 2/3 innings of work.
That’s an 11.6 average for strikeouts per nine innings. And with just 11 walks, his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 3.0.
If those numbers aren’t enough, take these words from Dodger great Clayton Kershaw, who pitched against The Miz on Tuesday:
“Know him now, huh?” Kershaw said after the game on Spectrum SportsNet LA.
The veteran lefty went on to say things like “that was super impressive,” “that was unbelievable,” and “it was really special.”
When asked about what he specifically saw, Kershaw said this: “Everything. Obviously the velo (velocity), but he’s got four pitches, commands the ball and I don’t know how you hit that. That’s just really tough.”
It isn’t just tough. It’s misery.
Plus, the nickname “The Miz” is for the WWE wrestler named Mike Mizanin. Now, if there’s an earlier connection to the name “Miz” please excuse me for not being educated on that. But, either way, Misiorowski’s name doesn’t even have the letter Z in it.
I like misery. Plus, as a Missouri native, who hasn’t heard their dad or uncle refer to this state in the mispronounced way of “misery.” Misiorowski and misery just work.
When you can strikeout 12 batters in the MLB’s best offensive lineup — in terms of total runs scored — you’re more than tough.
And he’s been consistent. He only has one start in which he didn’t strikeout at least one batter per inning.
He struck out five through five innings in his debut on June 12 against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Grain Valley High School product out of Kansas City, Missouri, fanned six through six innings in his next start. Then he got eight Pittsburgh Pirates out on strikes on June 25 in five innings of work.
Misiorowski’s only game he didn’t record at least one strikeout per inning was in a rough outing against the New York Mets. He only made it through 3 2/3 innings and struck out two batters. He allowed five runs that game on five hits and three walks.
That was an away game. In fact, seven of his eight runs allowed have come on the road. The only run allowed at American Family Field was a solo home run to lead off Tuesday’s game by the world’s best baseball player in the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani.
That game brought his season earned run average down to 2.81 and his WHIP remained below 1.00 at .89. He’s now 4-1 on the season with two quality starts. A quality start is six or more innings and three or fewer earned runs.
The pipeline from the Kansas City prep schools to Crowder College in Neosho and then on to Milwaukee has been very nice to the Brewers with Aaron Ashby and now Misiorowski.